1 . Why Some Brilliant Ideas Get Overlooked?

In 1928, Karl Jansky, a young radio engineer at Bell Telephone Laboratories, began researching static interference. Five years later, after investigating every possibility, he published his remarkable _______: some of the static was coming from the Milky Way.

Jansky’s theory was eye-catching enough to be published in The New York Times but scientists were _______. Radio signals from outer space? Surely they were too weak to detect. Jansky’s ideas were largely _______ for about a decade. Thankfully, he lived long enough to see his ideas blossom into field of radio astronomy.

Jansky’s story resonates with us: we all like the idea of the researcher who is so far ahead of their _______that it takes years for the rest of the world to catch up. Gregor Mendel’s research into plant genetics is a famous example — published in 1866. It wasn’t taken seriously until 1900.

The stories of Jansky and Mendel hold out some hope to anyone who feels that the world has not quite_______ their brilliance. There is even a name for such cases by Anthony van Raan of Leiden University: “Sleeping Beauties”, scientific papers that are not referred to later for years, before finding wide _______. (Some scholars argue that the term is sexist and prefer “delayed recognition”.)

So what is it about an idea that delays recognition? One view is that brilliant ideas are overlooked when delivered by unclearly expressed messengers. Jansky and Mendel were somewhat off the scientific _______. In 1970, the sociologist Stephen Cole published an analysis arguing that the obstacle tended to lie in the _______ of the idea itself, rather than the reputation of the scientist behind it. Ideas fell asleep for a hundred years because they were confusing.

Two scholars of the field, Eugene Garfield and Wolfgand Glanzel, have argued that such _______ of delayed recognition are so rare as to be hard to analyse. Studying papers published in 1980, they looked for articles that were barely cited (引用) for five years and found just 60 examples cited later in 450,000 cases. Unfortunately, they ________ their work in 2004.

Why, then, is this myth such an appealing one? One explanation is that we all love a story of the underdog (黑马) who succeeds against ________. Immediate and sustained success is as boring as immediate and sustained failure.

Another is that scientists themselves are fond of the thought that their ideas are ________. In an essay on delayed recognition, Garfield notes mildly that one historian of science, Derek Price, believed one of his own papers was suffering delayed recognition.

Delayed recognition is rare. Much more ________ is for people simply to reach their prime late in life. David Galenson is an economist who studies the creative output of musicians, artists, directors and others. Galenson has found that while it is quite possible to ________ as a radical young artist, there are many examples of “old masters” whose later works are more admired than their youthful ones.

We all need to be able to hold on to the idea that the best is yet to come. But we can’t just hope what we have already produced will, one day, be recognized for its brilliance. Good things do not come to those who wait, if________ is all they do. It is wiser to get back to work and make something better.

4 . Research has shown that two-thirds of human conversation is taken up not with discussion of the cultural or political problems of the day, not heated debates about films we’ve just seen or books we’ve just finished reading, but plain and simple _________.

Language is our greatest treasure as a species (物种，品种), and what do we _________ do with it? We gossip about others’ behavior and private lives, such as who’s doing what with whom, who’s in and who’s out — and why; how to deal with difficult _________ situations involving children, lovers and colleagues.

So why are we keen on gossiping? Are we just natural _________of both time and words? Or do we talk a lot about nothing in particular simply to avoid facing up to the really important issues of life? It’s not the case according to Professor Robin Dunbar. In fact, in his latest book, Grooming, Gossip and the Evolution of Language, the psychologist says gossip is one of these really _________ issues.

Dunbar _________the traditional view that language was developed by the men at the early stage of social development in order to organize their manly hunting activities more effectively, or even to promote the exchange of poetic stories about their origins and the supernatural (超自然现象). Instead he suggests that language evolved among women. We don’t spend two-thirds of our time gossiping just because we can talk, argues Dunbar – _________ , he goes on to say, language evolved specifically to allow us to gossip.

Dunbar arrived at his cheery theory by studying the _________of the higher primates (灵长类动物) like monkeys. By means of grooming — cleaning the fur by brushing it, monkeys form groups with other individuals on whom they can rely for support in the event of some kind of conflict within the group or _________ from outside it.

As we human beings evolve from a particular branch of the primate family, Dunbar __________ that at one time in our history we did much the same. Grouping together made sense because the bigger the group, the greater the __________ it provided; on the other hand, the bigger the group, the greater the stresses of living close to others. Grooming helped to __________the pressure and calm everybody down.

But as the groups got bigger and bigger, the amount of time spent in grooming activities also had to be __________ to maintain its effectiveness. Clearly, a more __________ kind of grooming was needed, and thus language evolved as a kind of vocal (有声的) grooming which allowed humans to develop relationship with ever-larger groups by exchanging information over a wider network of individuals than would be possible by one-to-one __________ contact.

6 . Nicholas Rilling is a bright-eyed, active 5-year-old boy, normal in every way. What is _________ is that he’s that way today after three days’ _________ that happened because of his being underwater without _________ for some 8 minutes.

It was Oct, 17. The Maryland family were enjoying a vacation at a beach resort (旅游胜地) in Puerto Rico. The shallow (浅的) water suggested no _________. But after a while when Kent Rilling _________, he couldn’t find his son Nick!

The sunlight dancing on the water made it difficult for Kent to see where his son was. After an anxious and hurried _________ up and down, he suddenly found his son _________ face-up on the bottom, his eyes open, his body _________.

“He just looked gray and his _________ black,” Kent said. “We picked him up, ran him up to the __________ and just started CPR (心肺复苏) at once.”

For three days in hospital, Nick __________ unconscious (无意识的), his breathing assisted by a breathing machine. The whole time, from the beginning when her husband brought Nick to the beach to give first aid (急救) as a crowd of other __________ gathered around, Cynthia Rilling kept taking pictures and videos of what was going on.

“__________ as I was, I knew in my heart he was going to __________. There was no way God was going to take our son from us. And I just said, ‘I am going to take pictures so he can see the __________ he went through when he grows older.’”

The family kept praying at his bedside, talking to him, hoping for a __________. Finally, on the fourth day, when his parents asked him what __________ he liked, “Sponge Bob Square Pants,” he answered.

After five days, Nick was well enough to __________ hospital, showing no ill effects from his __________ experience. The doctors and nurses organized a “__________ party” for him, and Nick was happy to watch his Sponge Bob Square Pants on TV.

Hello, Mr. Wi-Fi. Life without you is next to impossible. We’re happy to sing your name from morning till evening, sometimes till dawn. _______I know you help me, sometimes you’re making me do things with _______attention. Many times I promise myself that I’ll _______my feelings towards you, but you’re _______me closer and closer… You’ve entered both my home and my _______. You’re just a window for our _______and information. But we people aren’t _______only with the window. So we open all our _______for you. Is this a(n) _______or some kind of attachment? If this is an illness, is it curable? And if this is an attachment will you __________me to the lifelong togetherness?

We want you all days. Can’t you take a few days off so that both you and I can __________? You’re a poison-not a slow one but a super __________poison which holds our mind and makes us dance __________its tune. Nowadays you’re so __________that anyone can buy and make you our __________. You’ll never be bothered about our health but we’ll __________be concerned about your “health”. Because you accompany us everywhere and never let us be alone.

If you were a __________person made of flesh and blood (血肉之躯) would we love you the same? You __________us with your numerous talents and we even can’t get rid of you. We’re all your __________. Sometimes I wonder how people in the previous generations __________, but if they did why can’t we?

8 . What would your life be like without phones?

In one of my classes today we discussed the question of how our lives would be without a mobile phone. I actually felt quite sad to hear how some kids cannot ______ without their phones these days. ______, I think nowadays we are controlled and ______ by our technology to keep up. So let’s see some of the points that ______ in the debate and see if our generation really is addicted(上瘾的) to electronic connections ______ true communication.

It is true that everything ______ at a fast pace these days. For example, you can contact someone who lives on the other side of the world within ______. This is great if you think about how connected we can stay to the ______ who are far away from us. However, on the contrary, can we be too connected to the people who are ______ to us? An argument arose about the ______ that it is easier to message someone from your sofa than to meet them ______ and talk. Social skills are ______ to have and if you are not going to put effort into real-life ______, then you are not going to ______ in this ability.

Another point was that phones are very handy for ______ something that you are wondering about. For example, if you don’t know a word in another language, you can ______ and simply use an on-line translator to help you out. This can be very ______ in many situations, but it can also make a person dependent on the ______.

All in all, this question is very interesting to ______ as we become day by day more dependent on technology. We should realize how much we really need to be connected with our phones while considering the ______ and damage it can cause us.